


Missing fine print

by TrialsAndErrors



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: (not between steve and billy), Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Blackmail, M/M, Non-Consensual Oral Sex, Steve and Billy both work in the porn industry, pornstar AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-30
Updated: 2020-08-30
Packaged: 2021-03-06 20:06:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,887
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26194615
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TrialsAndErrors/pseuds/TrialsAndErrors
Summary: Always read the fine print in contracts, and if there is no fine print? Ask yourself why that is.Also, make sure you get yourself a manager with morals.
Relationships: Billy Hargrove/Steve Harrington
Comments: 7
Kudos: 24





	Missing fine print

They met on set.

Perhaps it wasn’t the most romantic way they could have met – on the set of a porno – but it was what it was; a gangbang scene. They were both busy fucking into a moaning young woman each, when they looked up and caught each other’s eye. Billy grinned and sped up, licking his lips, and Steve took the challenge for what it was and increased the speed of his thrusts as well. They kept eye contact during the rest of the scene – it was fine, they were only filmed from the chest down anyway – and once they were pushed aside by two other guys, Steve smiled at threw a thumbs-up in Billy’s direction. They started talking after the scene was done, discovered that they were both hungry and that none of them had dinner plans, and went out for burgers. Later that night, they kissed in the dark behind a gas station, and that, as they say, was that.

Steve had been in the porn business since his early college days, and was a fairly well-known name. He was good-looking, well-endowed, and had a reputation to be easy to work with. He had been shooting with people of all genders, and while he was more than up for switching, they usually didn’t put him on the receiving end of things. “Gotta put that big dick of your to good use,” as his manager used to say, grinning.

Billy, on the other hand, was pretty new to porn. But what he lacked in experience, he made up for with enthusiasm. He had stamina and could go long and hard, but he only shot with women, and he never bottomed for anyone.

He confessed to Steve, one night when they were in bed together, catching their breaths after a pretty decent hand job, that he wasn’t against the thought of bottoming at some point – the _for you_ went unsaid – but that he couldn’t risk doing it on camera, in case it would somehow get back to his family.

“I’m not gay,” he said, and wouldn’t look Steve in the eye. It sounded like a question.

Steve didn’t ask about it. He knew better than anyone that some things, you just didn’t want to talk about. He would let Billy open up to him in his own time.

“Me neither,” he said, and kissed Billy on the nose, and that was that.

Eventually, their relationship grew, and they reached the point – as many people in relationships do – where seeing the other have sex with other people felt _wrong_. They finally talked about it, after a couple of tense weeks leading up to that point, and decided that perhaps it was time to move on from porn. For the sake of their relationship. For _them_.

They had the same manager. This was not something they had discovered until weeks into their relationship, and it had never mattered, as their manager had many clients and the agency he worked for represented even more. His name was David, and Steve had always found him to be an okay dude. He had taken care of Steve for the last year and a half, and had done a good job of it. So when Steve called him and told him he wanted to quit, David sighed over the phone. Asked Steve to come in, the next day, and talk it through in person. Steve figured that, considering their history, it was the least he could do. He wasn’t scheduled to work that day, anyway.

Billy, on the other hand, _was_ scheduled to work, so he went in early to talk to David before the shoot. He and Steve had talked about it, and both of them realized that Billy might not get out of _today’s_ shoot, but hopefully David would at least be able to cancel their upcoming gigs. Steve kissed Billy in the doorway of his apartment (where Billy spent most of his time anyway, by now) when he left that morning, wished him luck, and slapped him on the butt as he turned to leave, making Billy grin over his shoulder as he playfully threw up his middle finger.

“Fuck you!”

“One day, when you ask me for it,” Steve promised, and smiled when it caused Billy to blush and bite his lip.

They still hadn’t reached that stage in their relationship. Mostly, they used their hands when they had sex, and Steve never had to be persuaded to get on his knees for Billy. It was only in the last couple of weeks that Billy had started returning that particular favor. Steve gave him all the time he needed; there was something there, that Billy had to work through, but Steve was patient. And it was well worth it.

To both of their surprise, Billy loved blowing Steve. And Steve had to admit, he was getting really good at it.

After lunch, Steve knocked on the door to David’s office and stepped in. David was seated in his office chair, watching something on his computer – a recent shoot, probably, judging by the grunts and wet slapping sounds – but closed his laptop and got up with a smile when Steve entered.

“ _King Steve_! Hey. I’m glad you could come down in person.”

They shook hands, and Steve smiled. “No problem. I just, yeah. You know. What we talked about on the phone? Eventually, I guess everyone reaches the point when they look at their own life, and have to make a decision. And, well. I’ve reached that point. And I’ve made my decision.” He sat down in the chair opposite to David’s. “I want out.”

David nodded, no longer smiling, and sat down in his chair. “I understand. I do. It’s just … well, it’s not that easy.”

Steve frowned. “What?”

“You signed a contract,” David said, and handed Steve a bunch of papers that he recognized from a couple of months ago, when his contract was renewed. “And according to this, you have agreed to star in seven more productions.”

“That’s bullshit,” Steve found himself saying, and leafed through the papers in search for what he knew was there. “ _You_ wrote this contract for me, _including_ the clause that I would be able to quit, if I wanted to, at any time, as long as it wasn’t in the middle of a production … aha, here!” He pointed at the particular part in the contract and held it up for David to see. It was black on white, fool-proof.

Again, David nodded, looking serious. “Yes. Yes, your contract _does_ state that. But Billy Hargrove’s contract does not.”

Steve sat back in his chair, eyes narrowing. “What?” He and Billy hadn’t told anyone at work about their relationship. “What are you talking about?”

“Hargrove came in here this morning, wanting to quit, too.” David reached inside a drawer and brought up another stack of papers. Much thinner than Steve’s – really, just a couple of them, stapled together. “This is Hargrove’s contract.” He took Steve’s from him and instead handed him Billy’s, for him to look through. “See what part is missing?”

Steve started reading, forgetting to ask how David even knew about them in the first place, but David interrupted him. “Hargrove’s contract says that he has agreed to star in another fourteen productions. And it does _not_ allow him to quit before they are finished.”

“Bullshit,” Steve said again and looked down at the papers in his hands. Two pages only, but he was right – nowhere on these two pages did it say that Billy could quit. “You can’t force him to stay. What if he quits anyway?”

“Then we can sue him for breaching his contract.” David leaned forward in his chair, putting his elbows on the desk. “But believe me, Steve, it’s the last thing we want to do. No one wins if we start bringing in lawyers.”

“Then let him quit!”

“I can’t do that. My hands are tied.”

“Bullshit.”

“I’m serious, Steve. Our agency has promised to deliver, and if we don’t, they will drag us through the mud.” Steve opened his mouth to speak, but David held up a hand. “Do you know where Hargrove is today?”

His voice suggested that he was well aware of the fact that Steve knew, so Steve didn’t bother hiding it. “He told me he was going to talk to you, and then – if he couldn’t get out of it – he had work.”

“Yes, well,” David said and opened up his laptop. “Hargrove’s shoot was cancelled last minute, so I sent him to a casting instead. As it is my power to do, according to _his contract_.” He turned the laptop around and pressed play on the video there, and Steve’s eyes widened.

The video was of Billy. He was shirtless and struggling, and being held down on a table by two burly men. He was chest down, and one of the men were holding his arms behind his back and the second was grabbing onto his legs to keep him from kicking out, and as Steve was watching, the man laughed and slapped Billy’s butt through his tight jeans, just like Steve had done this morning. Billy made a protesting sound, but no words came out, because a third man was currently standing at his head, with his dick in Billy’s mouth.

“What the fuck,” Steve breathed in horror.

Billy in the video whined and made a choking sound around the man’s cock, and he screwed his eyes shut. A tear made its way down his cheek, and judging by the wet tracks there, it wasn’t the first one. The man made no note of it, but continued to fuck his throat, hard and fast. One of his hands were in Billy’s hair, yanking his head back, and the other was on the back of Billy’s head, holding him steady.

David pressed a button, and the video paused mid-gag, with Billy’s face wet and messy, eyes tightly shut as if he didn’t want to see.

“It’s a new genre for him,” David commented coolly, as if he was discussing the weather, “but honestly, he’s a natural. I think we may have found his niche. Although there’s quite a bit more to explore. He has another casting coming up later this afternoon, where we will see how well he performs when he’s being fucked. But maybe you know the answer to that already.”

Steve stood up so fast that his chair fell back to the floor behind him. He leaned over the desk and, breathing heavily, he hissed, “What the hell are you doing?”

David wasn’t intimidated. He calmly leafed through Steve’s contract until he found what he was apparently looking for. “See this?” It was the part that stipulated that Steve himself had the final say in what part he would play in any given production – giving or receiving. Steve had thought it was a standard clause. “Hargrove’s contract doesn’t have this part, either.”

“You fucking bastard.”

David actually smiled a little at that, and indicated the fallen chair. “Sit down, Steve.”

It wasn’t a suggestion.

After a couple of tense seconds, Steve picked up the chair and sat back down, back ramrod straight, jaw locked hard. David left the laptop facing Steve, so he could see the paused video, and nodded toward it while he looked through Steve’s contract for another clause. “Now where is it … ah, right, here.” He turned it around, and pointed at another part of text.

The one that said that Steve was the one who got to decide if his castings were to be released or not.

“Feel free to look through Hargrove’s contract for this part,” David said. “But you won’t find it.”

Meaning that the video of Billy being … of Billy being _raped_ … could be released against his wishes. That Billy’s worst nightmare could come true; that it could get back to his family. Steve still didn’t know the story behind that, but he knew that it would absolutely _gut_ Billy, if that happened.

“You asshole,” Steve said in a voice so low it was almost a whisper. “Why are you doing this?”

David leaned back in his chair and gestured with his hands. “I’m just looking out for our interests, Steve. You and Hargrove have your contracts. Or, well, Hargrove does, at least. And _someone_ will have to deliver.”

Steve’s eyes narrowed, but he didn’t say anything. David smiled as he continued. “To be honest, Steve, we would rather have you than Hargrove. You’re a bigger name, and honestly, a bigger dick. But if you want out, that’s your choice. Your contract allows you to leave. It’s up to you.”

“Uh-huh,” Steve said between gritted teeth. “And if I decide to stay?”

“Then we would be happy to have you, of course!”

“And Billy?”

“Well,” David said and brought up a third stack of papers from his drawer. “If he is still intent on quitting – which, maybe he’s not? Maybe he’s found his calling?” He nodded towards the computer and Steve glanced over at the slightly blurry still frame of Billy choking on a cock that wasn’t Steve’s. “But if he still wants to quit, well, we would of course have to find someone else who would be willing to stand in for him.”

“And if that someone was me?”

David smiled. “I’m glad we’re on the same page here.” He put the third stack of papers on the desk and slid them over to Steve, probably well aware that Steve would throw them in his face if he tried handing them to him. “Your contract says that you have seven more productions to go. Hargrove have fourteen, so that makes twenty-one. But I’m a nice guy, so I’ll count his casting this morning as a completed job. Let’s round it off to twenty more movies, yeah?”

“Uh-huh,” Steve said, fuming. “And the clauses?”

“Oh, don’t worry,” David said, pointing at different parts of the new contract. “They’re all here. Well, except for the quitting one, of course.” He smiled at Steve. “We take good care of our assets, here.”

Steve pointedly looked at the laptop, and then back at David. David rolled his eyes. “Our _prime_ assets.”

“Fuck you.”

“I’m afraid I do my best work behind the camera. But thank you for offering.”

Steve said nothing, just started reading through the new contract, grabbing a pen from David’s desk without comment and noting things in the margins. David let him.

Ten minutes of intense silence later, Steve threw the contract back on the desk, and threw the pen at David’s chest, making him jump and fumble as he grabbed it before it fell to the floor.

“I have some notes.”

David grabbed the contract and riffled through it, nodding at the couple of notes Steve had made. “I can see that. This is doable.”

Steve leaned forward and yanked the papers from David’s hands, pointing sharply at the last page, where he had added several lines of text. “Billy’s casting tape from today. It will never be released. None of that will ever see the light of day. And he will _not_ be forced to do this afternoon’s casting.”

At this, David raised an eyebrow. He said nothing for several seconds, until he finally nodded. “Fine.”

With that, he grabbed his laptop and turned it back around, and after a little while he started clicking away on the keyboard. A couple of minutes later, during which Steve was sitting opposite to him with his arms crossing his chest, the printer in the corner whirred to life and another – revised – copy of the contract was put into Steve’s hands. The pages were still warm.

He read through them again to make sure all his notes had been added, and when he finally looked up again, David was smiling and holding out the pen.

With a growl, Steve snatched it from his fingers, and splayed the pages out on the desk. There was a line on the last page where he was supposed to sign, and he held the pen over it … Hesitated …

He almost jumped when a sudden sound was heard. A sudden choking sound, a grunt, a muffled wet cough. He looked up, sharply, and David looked at him with wide eyes while making a show of pressing a button on his laptop to turn the video off again. “Oops. Accidentally pressed play, there.”

Steve signed his name on the line, and threw the papers and the pen at David’s face as he stood up. “I hope you burn in hell.”

“Nice doing business with you, too,” David said, unconcerned, picking up the papers and smoothing them out. “I _would_ say that you have a job this afternoon, but I believe Hargrove’s casting ended a while ago, and I imagine you’d want to be there when he gets home. With him being recently unemployed, and all.”

Steve could barely contain a snarl, but instead of starting anything he turned and reached for the door. Before he could go, David called out after him.

“Oh, and Steve?” Steve froze, but didn’t turn around. “Ordinarily, we frown upon relationships in the workplace. In this case, it turned out pretty good, but … something to keep in mind for the future.”


End file.
